A Bridge Between Rock and the Chinese

Zhang Fan, headmaster of Beijing Midi School of Music, is the sponsor and director of the Midi Music Festival. The Midi School of Music was established in 1993 and is the most famous private conservatory of modern music in China. In 2000, the school held the first Midi Music Festival at the foot of Fragrant Hill, and has gradually made it the biggest and most important rock festival in China.

Music brings the youth together

Q: What are the aims of the Midi Music Festival?

A: Our purpose is simple. We just want to provide a place for people to have fun, abreact, relax and to communicate. Everyday life for many young people seem mundane. People are too busy, and suppress their real feelings. The Midi Music Festival provides them with music, an open space, green grassland, sunshine and honesty. I think that every city in China should have music festivals.

Q: What did you do before establishing the school?

A: I graduated from the Economic Department of Beijing Economic and Trade University in 1990. I played in bands at high school and college. At that time, my ambition was to be a rock star. Then in 1994, I got the opportunity to be headmaster of Midi School, and then my interest transferred from being a rock star to a career of disseminating modern music.

Q: Were there difficulties in developing Midi Music School?

A: Education in modern music was a blank area in China when the school was established. Nobody really knew how to teach and what should be taught. When became headmaster of the school, the first thing I did was to select and translate teaching materials from abroad. We spent one and a half years and finished translating 10 sets of materials for guitar, bass, drums and other instruments. This translation taught us a lot. At the same time, we advertised and attracted more and more students, and the school gradually started on the path of modern music education.

Q: What is your first reaction when somebody mentions rock?

A: I think of it as a real and honest voice, more realistic than idealistic, that brings people passion.

Q: Then, what if somebody mentions Chinese rock?

A: Dissatisfaction. But it will get better. Midi Music Festival is just a platform for it to grow. I am not entirely satisfied with the present Midi Music Festival. But I am patient and I believe that with time and practice, it will become better and better.

Q: Why are you dissatisfied with Chinese rock?

A: It develops too slowly. There may be many reasons. But I think it has something to do with the cultural system of China. Rock music is seldom introduced or promoted on TV or the radio, so the market develops too slowly to attract investors. The biggest difference between Chinese rock and that of Western countries is government policy. We should be more open to it, and support its development. The mainstream audience in China has few chances to get to know rock.

Q: What's your role, or the role of Midi Music Festival, in developing Chinese modern music?

A: I am educating musicians and also building a bridge between musicians and audience. I hope to attract more common people to the music festival to get to know Chinese modern music. The main principle of the Midi Music Festival is that it will always be free. We tell people and people tell their friends that there is music to be heard on grassland under blue sky and sunshine, for free, and they come. They know that rock is just a way of talking about our real life.